Vaibhav Sooryavanshi created history during the England T20I series when he became the youngest cricketer to play for India. In the subsequent tour of Zimbabwe, the 15-year-old became the youngest to score a half-century in men’s international cricket and the youngest to win the Player of the Series award.
While many are backing Sooryavanshi to become one of the legends of this game, Robin Uthappa decided to hold his horses, mentioning that bowlers have not yet started responding to the opening batter’s batting acumen. However, Uthappa opined that Sooryavanshi has a similar technique to Bradman as he isn’t a candidate for LBW.
Uthappa said that if Sooryavanshi can average in the high 40s without cutting down on his strike rate, there is a possibility that he can be considered a one-of-a-kind player.
“It’s hard to say that now. We haven’t really seen the bowlers respond to what Vaibhav is doing. People are just coming to terms with the way he’s batting. So we’ll have to wait and see. Because when Bradman was batting the way he did, what they resorted to was bodyline. Vaibhav has a similar technique to Bradman, where he almost never got out LBW,” Uthappa said on the CommBoxTV YouTube channel.
“If Vaibhav can maintain an average in the high 40s with his strike rate, he could be considered an outlier. It would have also been interesting to see if the World War 2 hadn’t happened and Bradman had played 30 Tests more, would be have still averaged 99 or over a 100?” he wondered.
“That’s why an MS Dhoni was accepted as he did his own thing” – Robin Uthappa on outliers in this generation
Uthappa gave the example of MS Dhoni while explaining why there are more outliers emerging in the sport than ever before. The cricketer-turned-commentator stated that players are not just sticking to the basics but relying on their natural God-gifted abilities.
“Outliers also happen a lot more now than ever before. It’s because people aren’t reliant on traditional bowling or batting techniques. Any technique has become more acceptable today. More players are relying on their natural God-given ability than a particular way of playing,” said Uthappa (via the aforementioned source).
“That’s why an MS Dhoni was accepted as he did his own thing, similar to Vaibhav now, who’s doing his own thing. Yet, you still enjoy a Sachin Tendulkar, Shubman Gill or Virat Kohli, who bat their own way as well,” he concluded.
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